


Giving It Up

by LilyEllison



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Irreverence for Catholicism, Kink Negotiation, Lent, Marvel Happily Ever After Harlequin Hoopla 2020, Oral Sex, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Post-Season/Series 03, but it's very mild don't worry, but not in a mean-spirited way, smut and humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:55:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22825216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilyEllison/pseuds/LilyEllison
Summary: Karen and Matt have been all hot and heavy since getting back together. But then Foggy tells Karen something unexpected: Matt always gives up sex for Lent. He’s gotta be kidding, right?Written for the Marvel HEA Harlequin Hoopla 2020. Prompt: “Kink negotiations” Line: “Presents” (any length, size or completion status, but must be rated M or E)
Relationships: Matt Murdock/Karen Page
Comments: 13
Kudos: 41
Collections: MHEA Harlequin Hoopla Prompt Challenge 2020





	Giving It Up

Foggy was humming. Something old — a love song.

He could only get away with it because Matt was out of the office. Otherwise, there would have been an answering chorus of exasperated sighs emanating from Matt’s desk until he finally snapped, “Foggy!”

“Oh, sorry, buddy,” Foggy would say, without really noticing, not even taking his eyes off the screen or the file he was reading.

But Karen didn’t cut him off. She kind of felt like humming herself. It was late on Friday, and she was almost done with her work, and her prize for a long damn week was looming large in her mind.

Karen could hear papers shuffle as Foggy started loading up his briefcase for the night. He was singing now, under his breath, and she smiled.

“I’m heading out,” he said, poking his head into her office. “Marci and I are going to this new place for gourmet hot chocolate later tonight. You and Matt want to tag along?”

“Oh,” Karen said, “I—I think we’re staying in.” As much as she liked chocolate, she wasn’t craving anything but Matt tonight. They hadn’t had any time alone together in a couple of days, and she had no intention of leaving his apartment once she got there.

“Of course you are,” Foggy said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. She knew they deserved the snark. They had barely come up for air since things first got hot and heavy between them on New Year’s Eve. “It’s OK, though. I know we’ll have plenty of time to hang out again very soon.”

Karen laughed, shrugging. He was probably right. The honeymoon phase wouldn’t last forever. “Yeah,” she said vaguely. “Soon.”

Foggy tilted his head, his eyebrows lifting. “You’re taking it pretty well, then?”

“Taking what well?”

“Matt giving up sex for Lent.”

Her mouth started moving, though no words came out. But Foggy wasn’t looking at the shock that must be clearly painted on her face — his phone was ringing and he was pulling it out of his pocket. “Hey, Marce. I’m on my way,” he answered. He waved at Karen, mouthing “sorry” and she waved back limply before he turned around and left the office.

He was kidding, right? He had to be kidding. He was just poking fun at her because she and Matt had been so wrapped up in each other lately.

But he hadn’t sounded like he was kidding.

Karen raced through the rest of the file she was finishing up, making a mental note to check for mistakes later, then she found herself googling stuff about Lent. She already knew that Catholics tended to give up their vices, but she’d never heard of that including sex. Relief flooded through her when one of the articles she found clearly said abstinence during Lent was about not eating meat on certain days and not about giving up sex. But the more she clicked, the more confused she got.

There wasn’t much choice but to ask Matt about it directly. One of the many qualities that interested her about him was the way he managed to marry intense sensuality with asceticism, and apparently it was time to find out exactly where those borders were.

* * *

Matt answered his door in his shirtsleeves, his tie loosened and his glasses off. His feet were bare.

“Hey,” he said, greeting her with a kiss. “I was just changing.”

She followed him back to his room, dropping her bag and coat on the shelf in the hallway. She kicked off her own shoes and bounced onto his bed, ready to enjoy the show.

He took his time, knowing her eyes would be on him. He tugged off his tie and tossed it at her to make her laugh. Then he slowly freed each button of his shirt before pulling it off. He dropped it in the laundry, then rolled his shoulders and raised his arms for a stretch that was clearly more about showing off than about his sore muscles. Karen was shaking her head, but the sight of him was definitely having its intended effect. He could play her like a violin and she loved it. She’d never get enough.

His belt was next to go, and then he walked over to the bed, to stand in front of her. “This button can be a little tricky,” he teased. “Maybe you can help me with it.”

Karen smiled wide and slipped her fingertips into his waistband, using it to tug him even closer, close enough to touch her mouth to his skin. She peppered his chest with kisses and tiny kitten licks as she slid the button free.

He moved forward and down until she was lying back on the mattress. She wrapped her legs around him, encouraging his weight onto her as their mouths met. She touched his hair, his shoulders, his back, and he took her breath away with hot kisses. She wanted to lose herself in this, to let him play the entire sonata until he’d drawn out the very last note, but Foggy’s words were still rattling around in the back of her mind.

She stiffened and their mouths broke apart.

“What is it?” Matt asked.

“Foggy said...OK, this might be a stupid question, but do you really give up sex for Lent?”

“Oh,” he said, rolling off of her and lying on his back on the mattress next to her.

“So you do?” Karen could feel her eyebrows rise practically to her hairline. “When were you planning to tell me?”

“I was hoping we could talk about it this weekend, actually, but I thought I’d wait until we...took the edge off,” he said, looking stupidly sexy as he wet his lips.

She forced herself to ignore those red lips and focus. “Maybe we should talk about it now.”

“Yeah, OK,” he said, sitting up on the side of the bed. She scrambled to the edge to sit beside him and he laced his fingers through hers before he started.

“It’s not something everybody does. But I started a long time ago,” he said, “and it’s become kind of a tradition for me.”

“Ah,” Karen said, trying to keep the disappointment out of her tone. She didn’t want to make him feel bad about something connected to his religion. And it wasn’t like sex was the biggest deal. She’d gone a long time without it before, barely even noticing at times. The problem was just that in the last two months, Matt had lit a fire inside her, one that was hotter and brighter than anything she’d felt before. She—well, she understood why people lost their minds about sex now.

“I was in college,” Matt said. “Freshman year...I was finally away from the nuns, and I went a little wild. It wasn’t the drinking. I didn’t really go overboard there. I think, after all that time at Saint Agnes, I just...I wanted to be touched, you know?”

Karen squeezed his hand, her heart breaking for him. She knew exactly what he meant. She’d been there, in the dark time after she left home and before she found a new one.

“But after a few months of that,” Matt continued, “I needed to find a better balance. So I came up with this idea. People found it funny, and I liked that it took the pressure off on any given night. It hasn't really been necessary in a long time, but I just kept going with it.” He sighed. “I know this is too much to ask.”

“It’s OK. I understand,” Karen said, though she wasn’t completely sure that she did.

“I was thinking that I could still do it, but you...wouldn’t have to.”

“What do you mean?” she said, panic fluttering in her chest.

“I don't want to make you wait all that time.”

“I don’t want to be with anyone else, if that’s what you’re saying.” Her voice was rushed and not quite steady.

“Oh, no, Karen.” He leaned over to kiss her softly. “I don’t want you to be with anyone else, either,” he murmured.

She was relieved, but still confused. “What _are_ you saying, then?”

He took a deep breath. “How long did you think I might be dead?”

Karen shook her head, bewildered at the change in direction. “I don't remember.” That was a lie. She could have told him the exact number of days. Down to the hour. But he didn’t call her on it.

“I know it was more than 40 days. So maybe I could try making it up to you a little.”

“What? How?”

He bit his lip and raised his eyebrows suggestively.

She inhaled sharply as his intimation hit her. “So...I would...but you wouldn't?”

“Exactly.”

“Matt, I couldn't—”

He leaned in close, nuzzling near her ear. “You know I love it. Getting my mouth on you — making you come apart.” His words alone made a buzz build between her thighs. “And I think it would be interesting...for me.”

“Ohhhh,” she said, blinking, “so you’d...like it?”

“After all that buildup…” — he ran a finger slowly down her throat and across her collarbone and she shivered — “just imagine how...intense it would be.”

His voice crackled through her like electricity. His hand curled around the side of her neck, guiding her face closer to his, and she kissed him hungrily.

This time, she was the one who pushed him down onto the bed. His hands ran up and down her sides, and then he was tugging down the zipper of her dress. In one of those quick, graceful moves of his, he flipped them over. He pulled off her dress and her leggings and everything else she was wearing.

“I’ve been thinking about this for days,” he said, planting a kiss next to her belly button. She wriggled in anticipation.

He grabbed a pillow to slide under her hips and began a lengthy campaign of teasing, working her up until she was shaky and slick as hell and ready to beg. When his mouth finally found her, she let out a rather undignified moan. Every slide of his tongue was magic and she was coiling tighter and tighter and tighter and then—

“So what do you think?” he asked, pulling his face away and tilting it up toward her.

And the sight of his mouth, shiny and smiling, was so fucking erotic — that alone almost took her over the finish line. But she needed more, dammit.

“I think,” she panted, “this is coercion.”

He chuckled. “Objection sustained,” he said, then applied himself to finishing his work so voraciously that she flew out over the edge almost immediately, jerking and arching, her hands scrabbling for purchase on the silk sheets.

He held her afterward, skin to skin, and she felt warm and glowing sprawled out over his chest.

“I think...we should talk about it more, but...I’m OK with giving it a try,” she said, tracing circles on him with her fingertip. “Though...are you really supposed to be getting off on your sacrifice?”

“Isn’t the whole point of giving things up so you appreciate them more when you can finally have them?”

She wanted to have _him_ , and she started hunting for his zipper. Then she stopped abruptly.

“Wait, when does Lent start?”

“Not till Wednesday.”

“Oh, thank God.”

He laughed.

“Lose the pants, Murdock.”


End file.
